Is it okay to blog?

Welcome to the Music Therapy Blog. I am so excited to start this website, and have many hopes for what it will become.

When I started researching what’s out there in the small corner of the internet that contains music therapy, I was shocked to find few other active music therapy blogs in the UK at this current time! I only found two blogs that have been updated in the past 6 months: 1) Skylark and 2) Chiltern Music Therapy (see links in the resources section). Perhaps I didn’t look hard enough. Perhaps UK music therapy blogs are hard to find?

In my bloggy search, I found several (fantastic) American blogs. This raised many questions; why aren’t British Music Therapists writing blogs? What if no one wants to read a blog about music therapy? Do I have anything to say that will be of interest? Do I have time to write a blog?

And one particular, concerning question it raised; am I jeopardising my professional boundaries and reputation if I write and publish blogs?

But I think I do have something to say, or write. I do feel that I can offer something of interest to visitors to this website. I will make time. I will explore why I am one of very few British Music Therapist to write a blog.

And we will all find out if it is ‘okay’ for a Music Therapist to be blogging…

Ellie received her MA in Music Therapy from Roehampton University, and undertook additional training to receive certification as a Neurologic Music Therapist. She is employed by Chiltern Music Therapy and as well as a clinician works as a Supervisor and Manager for the organisation. Ellie has experience of working individually and running groups with adults, older adults, children and infants across a number of health and social care sectors, including learning disabilities, ASD, mental health, brain injury and dementia. Alongside her music therapy work Ellie was previously a Trustee and the Student Liaison Officer for the British Association for Music Therapy.

What a time for me to discover your blog Ellie! I’m a UK m.th who recently moved from the UK to the US and am working towards becoming a Board Certified Music Therapist and am thinking greatly about blogging, professional boundaries, similarities and differences etc.

I love how blogs, social media, sharing resources appear to be common in the US. I remember training in the UK and wanting to continue my blogging, but being met with many *conflicts or hurdles* strong opinions on both sides and simply closed down that side of my website (instrumental teacher, performer prior to m.th training).

We live in an age where we are Google-able, should we be? How do we manage being searched by our clients? Do we do so anonymously? Is it important that we show publicly our professional interests, readings, thoughts? Does that affect our relationships with clients? Does blogging bring further public awareness of what we as arts therapists can provide? All these and more flew through my head a few years ago and have resurfaced in the last few months whilst transitioning to a new country. Personally I believe we can make more connections across the world by being online, we can connect, learn and share from peers and colleagues we may never have met before and this can only be a good thing. I’ll be starting my blog up again as soon as I come up with a domain and it will be great to connect more. Maybe at Conference!

I look forward to reading more from you, and seeing how you manage all the questions I’ve already read!

Thank you for taking the time to write! What you’re doing sounds incredibly interesting and I’m very interested in the cultural differences with how music therapy is written about, advertised and generally addressed in different cultures and countries.

May I be bold and ask if you would consider writing a guest post for Music Therapy Blog about this subject, and the differences between your UK and US training?